In the operation of drilling multiple wells, it is not uncommon to disassemble a drilling rig so that it can be relocated to another drilling site. This disassembly and reassembly of the drilling rig requires an extended period of downtime and manpower, regardless of whether the next drilling site location is miles away or just a few feet from the original site. Furthermore, like any business operation, ability to minimize downtime and expenses and to increase production and profits are always desired.
Although manually-operated walking or moving structures are available in the industry, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,921,336; U.S. Pat. No. 3,921,739; and U.S. Pat. No. 1,001,299, all of which are incorporated herein by reference, the manually-operated walking or moving structures do not employ a guidance system for aligning the walking substructures, changing directions in calculated angular movements, accurately and safely moving the walking rig in predetermined and precise angular movements, and maintaining, securing, and/or locking precise angular orientations. For example, walking structures for carrying a drilling rig, which have been used in the industry in the past, require each jack pad to be physically and manually measured to ensure proper orientation. In addition, the existing methods do not provide pre-determining and providing a uniform and precisely angular orientation and/or locking of the position of each jack pad while in movement. The misaligning of the jack pads can cause unwanted force on the structure and can cause damage to both the transport unit and the drilling rig that it is carrying.